Olucak

This day has changed my view of Turkey. Here is why. We organized us a rental car in no time and went to the famous Sümela monastery first. It hangs in the rocks. The Greece Orthodox monastery was founded in the 4th century, it was abandoned in 1923 after the creation of the Turkish Republic and the ‘exchange of populations'. It is now a tourist magnet and recently under construction.

We follow the road up the hill to a village. We feel like we moved to Mongolia and enjoy Köfte, salad and tea facing this view. We move further up and up the serpentines and need so stop every minute to take a picture. It looks so impressive! The mountains are 3.040 metres here and the pass is small. It is 11° only. We plan to go down on the other side and hit a real street there again.

We take an old men with us who is hitchhiking :) He wanted to go to the next village to drink çay with his friends. So, we join for one tea and they show us the Orthodox church in their village where the cross can still be seen in the stone but it a mosque tower was added.

It takes forever to drive down. When it is already dark, we take a girl and a woman hitchhiking with us. They want to buy eftek (bread) at the next bakery. It feels as Turkey must be really safe when women hitchhike in the dark somewhere in the mountain villages.

I wished to have a drone to catch more of these breathtaking views. Turkish mountains are definitely a must! And they are worth the trip in itself. So, my view of Turkey has adjusted even more to the positive than before!Read more